Armoured steel isn’t only used in military applications. Increasingly, it can be found in a range of other civilian applications. It is used to make training facilities, security booths, splinter boxes, embassy ‘safe rooms’ and more.

Isreali manufacturer Plasan Re’em, for example, uses the steel to make high performance civilian armoured vehicles that offer maximum ballistic protection, as well as high performance, speed, manoeuvrability, comfort and control.

Based on commercially available models, the vehicles are also designed with appearance and anonymity in mind. To the untrained eye they look like standard vehicles, which means they are suitable for covert use. They deliver the benefits of low signature pass through and fast evacuation from threat areas.

To make these vehicles, Plasan Re’em required a steel product that is strong, bendable, weldable, formable and, of course, light.

BISALLOY® ‘special steel’

The company found all of this in the speciality armour grade, BISALLOY® ‘special steel’ from Bisalloy Steels, Australia’s only maker of high strength, quenched and tempered steels.

“This product is ideally suited for light, fast and manoeuvrable vehicles that require the highest level of ballistic protection,” said Justin Suwart, Bisalloy Business Development Manager & Business Manager – Armour.

“The unique chemistry of BISALLOY® ‘special steel’ means it is more weldable and bendable than any other 600 Brinell Hardness armour currently on the market, offering significant opportunities for companies like Plasan Re’em to develop innovative and highly effective solutions.”

Suwart explained that collaboration between the two companies was key to the successful development of the vehicles.

“Bisalloy continues to maintain a successful track record with Plasan Re’em based on years of close collaboration and the sharing of technical and product knowledge,” he said.

Plasan Re’em produces the vehicles in-house, with all materials and components rigorously tracked, vetted, and analysed to ensure quality.

“Bisalloy provides specialised, tailored and flexible solutions to ensure that Plasan Re’em can produce some of the best performing vehicles in their class,” Suwart said.

The team at Plasan Re’em share these positive views. “BISALLOY® ‘special steel’ is a perfect fit for Plasan Re’em’s next generation of discrete armour solutions, as it allows us to process and adapt the steel perfectly, and to a strict protection requirement. We believe that the partnership between Plasan Re’em and Bisalloy Steels will prove to be a great asset and highly beneficial for our customers,” said Kobi Ben Ari, CEO of Plasan Re’em.

There are six products in the BISALLOY® ‘special steel’ range, which vary in hardness from 300 HBW to 600 HBW.

Developed for the Australian Submarine Corporation to be used in the hulls of the Collins Class submarines, the products have also been used in many other projects, including Australia’s Bushmaster Infantry Mobility Vehicles.

The armoured steel helps ensure that the people who drive Plasan Re’em armoured vehicles (and many others who work in dangerous, hostile environments) have the best chance of carrying out their duties effectively and, above all, safely.